Simple strategy pays off

Captain Greg Todd led from the front as Wairarapa scored a comfortable first-innings win over Manawatu in their Hawke Cup qualifying senior men's cricket match played at Queen Elizabeth Park oval in Masterton over the weekend.

Todd, a member of the Central Stags four-day squad and a former Otago and Auckland rep, demonstrated his all-round capabilities by starring with bat and ball.

He came to the wicket in Wairarapa's first innings after two wickets fell at the same score of 47 and was last man out for 71 after steering his side to a respectable 275.

The Todd batting plan on a wicket whose greenish tinge gave the bowlers some assistance was simple: Play every ball on its merits. All told he was at the crease for 258 minutes and faced 177 balls. That 26 of his runs came from singles was evidence of his patience, but he was also quick to take advantage of anything loose, six times finding the boundary.

Four other Wairarapa batsmen got past the 30 mark, Jamie Holmes (5 fours) and Henry Cameron (3 fours and 1 six) both getting out for 31, Matthew Stringfellow showing controlled aggression in hammering eight fours in his 54 and young Rathkeale College tailender Ben Foster striking five fours in his valuable 37.

The most prolific partnership was the 83 runs put on by Todd and Stringfellow for the fourth wicket while Holmes and Tim Lucas provided 47 runs for the first wicket, Todd and Cameron 64 runs for the third wicket and Todd and Foster 57 runs for the ninth wicket.

The most disappointing aspects of the Wairarapa first innings were that on three occasions wickets fell in pairs (47, 208 and 213) and the middle order collapse which saw 5 wickets claimed while only 19 runs were scored, most of them through poor shot selection. Had the victims noted Todd's patient batting style, the final total would have surely have gone well over 300.

Manawatu's first innings started badly with two wickets down and only 18 runs on the board and while a 66-run partnership for the third wicket did slow the Wairarapa progress to some extent, the visitors never threatened to overhaul the target set them for first innings points. Central Stag Badenhorst top scored with 52, including 5 fours.

Again it was Todd who showed the way for Wairarapa.

He finished with just the one wicket but in conceding only 19 runs from his 16 overs tempted the Manawatu batsmen to take risks. Many of them took the bait and paid the price. As it happened it was fellow medium pacer Daniel Ingham who emerged as the most successful of the Wairarapa bowlers. He put down 17.5 overs and finished with an impressive 5-57 while Rathkeale College first XI player Josh Mann could feel happy with his 3-40 from 12 overs including the prized scalp of Badenhorst.

Having his first bowl at this level was Wairarapa College spinner Martin Reisima, a late addition to the team when first Peter Borren and then Harry Greenwood were unavailable. He didn't manage a wicket but his five overs cost just 22 runs and he was willing to give the ball plenty of air.

Wairarapa's second innings lasted 35 overs before a halt was called with the score at 90-3, opener Lucas having made 30 (3 fours) and Todd completing an excellent two days work for him by being unbeaten on 29 (2 fours).